Accessory for venetian blinds



July 28, 1959 QLlVER 2,896,893

ACCESSORY FOR VENETIAN BLINDS Filed April l6, 1956' IN V EN TOR.

MAR/4N0 OLIVER United States PatentO M ACCESSORY FOR VENETIAN BLINDS Mariano Oliver, New Bedford, Mass.

.Applicati'on April 16, 1956, Serial No. 578,282

2 Claims. (Cl. 248-208) This invention relates to an accessory for Venetian blinds and more particularly and specifically the accessory is a holder for retaining the blind against inward and outward sway in the wall opening with which the Venetian blind is associated.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of a holder for preventing sway in a lowered or extended Venetian blind.

Another object is the provision of a device of the character described which can be quickly and easily mounted on the sill of a window or other opening in which the blind is hung.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a holder which provides adjusta-hility of the holding device on the sill so as to adapt the holder for different sizes or widths of sills and to accommodate the holder in respect to the particular position of the blind within the wall opening.

Other objects of the invention are for the provision of a holder which is extremely simple and therefore comparatively cheap of manufacture; a holder which is composed of a minimum number of parts and is applicable to a sill without marring the sill in any way; a holder which can be applied or removed without the use of tools; and a holder in which the lower blind rail enters automatically upon the lowering of the Venetian blind.

Other objects, benefits and novel features of use and construction will appear from the following description when read in the light of the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through a wall opening with a Venetian blind therein, the blind holding device being shown in full lines.

Figure 2 is an end view in perspective elevation of the holder.

Figure 3 is a detailed vertical sectional view through the bracket element of the holder.

With the exception of the holder the rest of the construction illustrated in the drawings is conventional in nature, by which is meant that the wall opening need not be of any specific construction other than that it have an extending sill, and as to the Venetian blind all blinds are provided with a bottom rail and although these bottom rails may vary slightly in dimensions as respects their width and thickness, it will be obvious that such variables could be accommodated by the holder without departing from the spirit of the inventive concept.

Referring to the drawings which illustrate an embodiment of the invention, and utilizing like reference numerals and characters to designate similar parts, A is a wall opening which in this instance is a window opening closed by a window the bottom sash B of which appears in Figure l. The window opening is provided with a sill 1 and a Venetian blind, designated in its entirety by C, is conventional in nature in that it embodies tiltable slats 2 and a lower rail 3. This blind is suspended from the head of the window in any well 2 396,893 Patented July 28, 1959 known and conventional manner and is extensible and contractable as it is lowered and raised.

The holder embodies a substantially U-shaped bracket having an upper horizontal leg 4 and a lower horizontal leg 5 interconnected by a vertical leg 6. The gap or space between the horizontal legs is sufiicient to accommodate the thickness-of any sill likely to be encountered. Interiorly the bracket is provided with a suitable padding such as a felt strip 7 to assure that the sill is not marred by the application of the holder thereto.

The upper leg 4 of the bracket is provided at spaced points along its length with interiorly threadedopenings 8 and 9 either of which can receive the screw 10 which secures the rail holder proper to the bracket. The holder is a U-shaped clip comprising a bottom 11 which at its opposite ends has upwardly and substantially vertically extending side walls 12 and 13.

It is important that as the blind is lowered, that is extended, the blind rail 3 automatically enter the clip so that it assumes the position illustrated in Figure 1. To assure this operation the holder or clip must be aligned with the path of vertical travel of the blind rail. The proper alignment of the holder can be accomplished in two ways. The width of the sill and the vertical path of travel of the blind rail will determine whether or not the holder is secured in the opening 8 or 9 of the bracket. Further alignment of the holder with the path of travel of the blind rail can be accomplished by the positioning of the clamp which secures the bracket to the sill.

The clamp comprises a yoke having an upper horizontal leg 14, a lower horizontal leg 15 and a vertical leg 16. A thumb screw 17 passes loosely through the opening 18 in the lower leg and passes threadedly through the threaded opening 19 in the lower leg 5 of the bracket. It will be apparent that upon proper rotation of the screw the yoke will be raised and lowered and that the upper leg 14 of the clamp yoke can be caused to tightly and firmly engage the under side of the sill 1, as illustrated in Figure l of the drawings.

The foregoing description when read in the'light of Figure 1 will make the mode of operation of the blind holder clear without further detailed explanation.

It is intended that the holder in its entirety be made of aluminum or some other rust-proof metal so that the device will not rust nor stain the sill. The device is comparatively small as its entire width when considered in respect to the length of the blind rail and sill is comparatively small. A single holder has been found to sufiice to hold a blind against sway. The device can be applied to a sill without marring it as no holes need be made in the sill and the construction assures that upon removal the holder will not have marked the sill. Due to its simplicity and speed of application and removal, the device can be readily applied to a sill or removed from a sill for use on some other wall opening, or removed for the purpose of permitting the sill to be either washed or painted.

When the holder is properly positioned the blind rail will automatically enter the holder or clip when the blind is lowered by the conventional and normal operation. The side walls 12 and 13 of the clip will act as guides to the entry of the blind rail into the clip, and to further assure proper entry of the blind rail into the clip the upper ends of the clip legs 12 and 13 are flared outwardly as at 20. This arrangement is believed to be desirable but is not essential.

What I claim is:

1. A holder for receiving and engaging the bottom rail of a Venetian blind for holding the blind against inward and outward sway in respect to a wall opening in which the blind is mounted comprising, an open topped 3 U-shaped receptacle having a depth greater than the thickness of the blind bottom rail it is to receive, means to secure said receptacle to a support, said securing means comprising a U-shaped bracket composed of a pair of horizontal legs and a vertical leg interconnecting the horizontal legs, one of the horizontal legs being secured to the bottom of the receptacle, the other horizontal leg being provided with an internally threaded opening, a U-shaped clamp having a pair of horizontal legs interconnected by a vertical leg, one of the horizontal legs of the clamp being disposed between the horizontal legs of the bracket, the other horizontal leg of the clamp being disposed beneath that leg of the bracket having the threaded opening therein, said last named clamp leg being provided With an opening, and a threaded thumb 15 2, ,78

screw passing loosely through the last named opening I and having threaded engagement with the aforesaid threaded opening of the bracket, the parts operating as and for the purpose described.

2. A construction as defined in claim 1 wherein, the receptacle has vertically extending side legs interconnected by a horizontally disposed bottom leg, and the upper ends of the vertical legs of the receptacle being flared outwardly, for the purpose described.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Rehman et al. Aug. 2, 1949 Nelson Oct. 21, 1952 

